Electeds to F.D.I.C.: Don’t Leave Downtown

Lower Manhattan elected officials are less than thrilled about the F.D.I.C.’s desire to move to midtown. The federal agency, currently located at 20 Exchange Place, is said to have a pending agreement to move to the Empire State Building, taking 100,000 square feet.

But with a rough economy and Lower Manhattan set to have giant blocks of vacant space, this has angered the area’s elected officials.

“In a troubled time, a move by the F.D.I.C. out of Lower Manhattan raises the potential for significant cost increases, an inappropriate burden when government at all levels must exercise extraordinary fiscal discipline,” Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler and State Senator Dan Squadron wrote in a letter earlier this month. “We urge the F.D.I.C. to reject the results of a flawed search and issue a revised RFP with broader geographic eligibility including Lower Manhattan.”